Encountering the ancient artisanal crafts of Tonalá
While I was in Guadalajara for teacher training, I went on a field trip to a small city nearby that has been a source of artisanal crafts in Mesoamerica since the pre-Hispanic era. In Tonalá, Jalisco you can visit the homes/studios of artisans whose families have been producing the same types of crafts since pre-Hispanic times. Each piece is hand-painted, making it unique from every other piece, which means you won’t return from Mexico with craftwork mass-produced in Asia.
According to Wikipedia, Tonalá “has been a ceramics center since the pre-Hispanic period. The variety include traditional Jalisco varieties from the colonial period such as bruñido, petatillo, bandera, canelo, betus and even bruñido with applications of gold leaf. In the 1970s, Ken Edwards and Jorge Wilmot introduced stone ware and high fire ceramics to Tonalá. Ceramic pieces include plates, platters, jars, cantaros, cooking pots, flower pots, flower vases, miniatures and other kinds of decorative pieces. One popular design motif in Tonalá ceramics is called the Flor de Tonalá (Tonalá flower), which is an oval center with rounded petals”
-
- Fired products ready to be painted
-
- A craftsman hand-painting a bowl
-
- Ready to sell all around Mexico
It ended up being a really cool trip as we were able to visit several family homes where generation after generation has produced essentially the same artisanal crafts using the same tools and production methods (with progressive modernizations) for centuries, predating the arrival of the Spanish. We visited three shops during the visit, and in each case, the owners were all too happy to tell us how many generations of their families had lived in the home and passed down the crafts.
-
- An artisan explaining production methods
-
- A Christmas ornament with traditional design elements
-
- A centuries-old kiln still in use today
We watched as they crafted, fired, painted, and glazed a variety of clay craft work including statuary and other decorative items, plates, bowls and table centerpieces, and even Christmas tree ornaments! What I enjoyed the most was watching the painters do their work, painting each piece by hand without templates of any sort. It was magical watching the transformation of simple clay pieces into finished craftwork.
I’d highly recommend a day trip to Tonalá, on the outskirts of Guadalajara. I didn’t get to spend as much time there as I’d like, so I’ll keep it as a destination to visit again whenever I get to Guadalajara.
